Origins and Radicals of Japanese Kanji

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The kanji 掃婦帰寝浸侵 – Religious matters (5)

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In this fifth post on kanji that originated from something pertaining to religious matters, we are going to explore six kanji that contain the full or partial shape of 帚 “broom; brush” — the kanji 婦掃帰・寝浸侵. The component 帚 is not a Joyo kanji but we have the history as shown on the right.

The component 帚 — (a) and (b) in oracle bone style, in brown, and (3) and (4) in bronze ware style, in green, was a broom for sweeping an altar table in an ancestral mausoleum. It has also been interpreted as something that sprinkles rice wine to sanctify offerings. 帚 meant “broom; to sweep; to cleanse.”

The kanji 婦 “woman; lady; female”

For the kanji 婦, in oracle bone style (a) and (b) were the same as 帚 above, which was a broom for sweeping or cleansing an altar. In bronze ware style, (c) and (d) had a broom on the left and a woman (女) on the right. Together they signified the mistress of a household, who was responsible for keeping an ancestral mausoleum in good order. It originally meant the wife of one’s son. The kanji 婦 means “lady; woman; female.”

There is no kun-yomi. The on-yomi /hu/ is in 婦人 (“woman; lady” /hujin/), 主婦 (“housewife” /shu’hu/), 夫婦 (“husband and wife” /hu’uhu/) and 産婦人科 (“obstetrics and gynecology” /sanhujinka/).

The kanji 掃 “to sweep; brush on”

For the kanji 掃, in oracle bone style (a) had a broom and a hand holding it whereas (b) was the same as 帚 “broom; brush” and (a) and (b) in 1. 婦 “woman” above. It meant “a hand sweeping with a broom.” In (d) in seal style, in red, 帚 was used for a secular mundane purpose, and 土 “soil; ground” was added to mean “to sweep the ground; clean.” In kanji, 扌, a bushu tehen –“hand; an act that one does using a hand” — was restored. The kanji 掃 means “to sweep; brush on; broom.”

The kanji 帰 “to return; go home”

For the kanji 帰, In (a) and (b) in oracle bone style and (c) in bronze ware style, the left side was a sacrificial meat offering to a deity before a military force went out for a battle. The right was a broom, signifying a purified family altar. Together they originally meant a military force returning to the family mausoleum to give a battle report on a safe return. (e) in bronze ware style and (f) in seal style had a footprint at the bottom left to signify a return. From that it meant “to return home.” The kyuji 歸, (g) in blue, reflected (f) closely. In shinji the left side became two slightly curved lines, perhaps signifying the original two pieces of sacrificial meat offerings. The kanji 帰 means “to return; come/go home; belong to.”

The kanji 寝 “to sleep”

For the kanji 寝, (a) in oracle bone style and (c) in bronze ware style had a house or family mausoleum, inside of which was a broom or brush. Together they originally meant a mausoleum that was purified. On the other hand, (b) in oracle bone style had a sick bed with a few droplets signifying perspiration on the left, and the right side was a hand holding a broom, which signified a cleansed mausoleum. Together they meant a sick person waking up from in bed with a nightmare. (d) in seal style was very different but had a similar story – inside a mausoleum (a house and a broom) the left side was a bed, and the top right was a medium who was believed to cause a nightmare/dream. An illness was considered something that an evil spirit caused, and purification was necessary. In kyuji 寢, (e), the dream component was dropped, and a hand (又) was added at the bottom. The kanji 寝 means “to sleep.”

The kun-yomi /neru/ means “to lie down; sleep,” and is in 朝寝坊する (“to rise late in the morning” /asane’boo-suru/), 寝言を言う (“to talk in one’s sleep” /negoto-o iu/) and 寝ぼける (“to be still only half asleep” /neboke’ru/). The on-yomi /shin/ is in 寝室 (“bedroom” /shinshitsu/), 寝具 (“the bedding” /shi’ngu/) and 就寝時間 (“sleeping time” /shuushinji’kan/).

The kanji 浸 “to soak; immerse”

For the kanji 浸, in oracle bone style inside a family mausoleum was a broom shaking drops of sanctifying aromatic liquor. From the aroma of liquor permeating the room strongly, it meant “to soak; immerse.” The kanji 浸 means “to immerse; soak.”

The kanji 侵 “to invade; infiltrate”

For the kanji 侵, in oracle bone style (a) had an ox with sanctifying liquor droplets on the left and a hand holding a broom on the right. (b) had an ox ­and a broom only. [Incidentally, (a) and (b) were copied from Akai (2010), but were not included Shirakawa (2004). I suspect that it is possible that Shirakawa treated (a) and (b) belonging to other kanji.] (c) in bronze ware style had a sitting person on the top right and a broom in hand at the bottom. The meaning of 浸 “to permeate; immerse” was adopted for an act people do (signified by イ, a bushu ninben “person; an act that a person does”) in a military sense, and it meant “to invade.”

With this post we leave the topic of the origins that pertained to religious matters. For our next exploration I am thinking about the component shape 貝, which came from two totally different origins — a cowry (貝) and a bronze ware tripod (鼎). Thank you very much for your reading. –Noriko [June 10, 2017]